Abengoa Bioenergy has secured multi-year sales contracts for bioethanol which guarantee provision of 375 million litres of bioethanol to its Mediterranean clients in 2011. This Mediterranean contract volume, with a minimum term of one year, represents roughly 90% of the production capacity of Abengoa Bioenergy’s plants in Spain, which enables it to optimise production at these plants throughout the year and guarantees security and flexibility of supply to customers.
Abengoa Bioenergy expects to increase Mediterranean sales volume with spot sales contracts for 30-50 million litres in 2011, which will be provided through excess production capacity in Spain as well as through the export capacity of Abengoa Bioenergy France in Bayona (France). These spot contracts will address a portion of the additional bioethanol demand created by our customers’ need to achieve government-mandated biofuel incorporation targets.
“Abengoa Bioenergy is clearly committed to consolidating market share in the Mediterranean, where we expect demand to increase significantly – primarily in Italy, but also with the additivization of bioethanol in other countries, including Portugal and Greece, which still do not incorporate bioethanol into their gasoline,” the company said in a recent statement.
In order to ensure the highest quality and flexibility of supply, Abengoa Bioenergy operates a logistics hub in Cartagena, with storage capacity for 20,000 cubic meters of bioethanol, from which customers in Spain, the south of France, and Italy are partially supplied at present.
US visits biofuel facilities
Abengoa Bioenergy is committed to the production of biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass to broaden the spectrum of functional raw materials and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases in the transport sector. In order to develop this technology, it has constructed a pilot plant in York (Nebraska, US), with a nominal annual capacity of 80,000 litres of ethanol, as well as a demonstration plant in Babilafuente (Salamanca, Spain) with a nominal annual capacity of 5 million litres of ethanol.
The next stage in this technology’s development is the construction of a plant on a commercial scale, which will be built in Hugoton (Kansas, US). This project is currently in the engineering development phase and is working to obtain permits to begin construction.
The US Department of Energy (DOE) awarded Abengoa Bioenergy a grant to construct the Hugoton plant and is currently evaluating a Loan Guarantee concession. Pursuant to this process, DOE officials and two subcontractor engineers visited the demonstration plant in Babilafuente in March in order to study its operation; directly observing the handling of straw input, including both pre-treated and hydrolyzed material. According to Abengoa Bioenergy, “the officials had the opportunity to visit first generation facilities [and] appreciated the presentations and the plant visit, as the trip helped them greatly in understanding the plant’s processes and in getting first-hand knowledge of the state of Abengoa Bioenergy’s technology”.
For additional information:
